To the best of Coach Dennis Steele’s recollection, Smackover has won the last three softball regional tournaments – 2021, 2019 and 2018. The Lady Bucks were runners-up in 2017.
So, advancing to the state tournament has become sort of a foregone conclusion in Buckaroo Land.
Still, Smackover’s 28-2 season has been quite the accomplishment. The next step will be Thursday at 3 p.m. in Ashdown, when 3A State Tournament play opens against Harrisburg.
Steele said his team expected to be where it is this week.
“The thing I try to instill in the girls is you have to go out there thinking you’re going to win. That’s what they’ve done a good job of,” he said. “They’ve done a good job of keeping their minds set on what’s going on and staying focused and taking one game at a time. I think our girls have really been focused pretty good.”
Junior Malorie Pullin struck out 16 and tossed a no-hitter in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Ashdown. Offensively, Smackover scored runs on two ground outs, a sacrifice fly and two passed balls.
“Everyone has been playing pretty good defensively. We’ve been putting the ball in play. We haven’t been doing a lot of striking out. I’ve been happy with the way we’ve been making contact and hitting the ball,” said Steele, who knows the level of pitching will continue to crank up with every game from here on out.
“When you go through the conference and the pitching is not real fast and then you come upon a pitcher that throws hard, but we’ve adjusted pretty good. I really think we hit better pitching than we do slower pitching – the majority of the kids. I’ve got a few kids that hit the slower pitching and more than a few that have hit the faster pitching. The key now is we’re going to have to manufacture some runs. We’ve got to win every inning. If we can score a run or two each inning, it’ll be hard for us to lose.”
Smackover’s last venture into the state tournament resulted in a quarterfinal loss to Rose Bud. Pullin was the starting pitcher as a ninth grader. She’s not the same player and these Lady Bucks are a different squad.
But they’ve been here before.
“The thing I told the girls, I said you’ve got to stay hungry, and you’ve got to take one game at a time. We can’t look ahead,” said Steele. “The key I’ve been telling them is to take one game at a time and play your best, play your hardest. They’ve responded.”